News

The authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has found Azerbaijan's proposal to exchange prisoners unacceptable; however, they are ready to release one of the three Azerbaijani prisoners, namely, the soldier Elnur Guseinzade, ahead of time, said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the NKR.

Three witnesses from among inmates of Colony No. 16 who were attracted as search witnesses, failed to appear at the trial of Mamed Ibragim, an adviser to the Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan. The defence insisted on interrogation of them; and the court has adjourned the session.

The "Legal Initiative" has drafted a report on women, who in 2013-2017 fell victim to the so-called "honour killings". The report, which is scheduled to be published on December 6, is based on the studies conducted in the three republics of Northern Caucasus – Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

The European Court of Human Rights has issued its decision on cases of 16 residents of Chechnya and one resident of Ingushetia, who were detained by militaries in 2002-2004 and then disappeared. The Russian authorities should pay compensations to their relatives amounting more than one million euros.

The six citizens of Ukraine and a citizen of Georgia, detained in Tbilisi during a special operation, have gone on a hunger strike in protest against the charges of illegal acquisition and possession of weapons, their advocate has announced.

The OSCE observers, who went today to the troops contact line in the Karabakh conflict zone, found no violations there, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan have reported.

A Tbilisi court has ruled to arrest six citizens of Ukraine and one citizen of Georgia, detained during a special operation in Tbilisi and suspected of illegally acquiring and storing weapons.

On December 3, the "Islamic State", a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, posted an expanded version of a video with threats pronounced by the teenagers who attacked law enforcers in Chechnya on August 20 this year.

The wreckage of the Su-25, which took off today from Gyumri, was found in the mountains of the Shirak Region; the pilots died, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

Armenian authorities have announced their readiness to consider a US proposal for the supply of weapons. The country's financial capacity does not allow any large-scale purchase of American-made weapons; it is more reasonable for Armenia to still buying armaments from Russia, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The Krasnodar branch of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) has complained to the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory about the custody conditions at the local SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the wheelchair-bound Alexander Kiba, his advocate said on December 3.

The main New Year Tree for the capital of Armenia will cost 71 million drams, the Mayoralty has reported. This money should have been spent on solving social problems, residents of Armenia believe.

The experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" are convinced that the circumstances of the murder of Ismail Barkhanoev, a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, fail to meet the customs of the blood feud killing.

No extraordinary parliamentary elections, which the opposition insists on, will be held, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Executive Secretary of the "Georgian Dream" Party, has stated.

Officials are collecting personal data on family members of activists who have set up an initiative group to hold a referendum in Ingushetia on the border agreement with Chechnya, said Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights defender, in his appeal to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian Ombudsperson, has stated today that the Prosecutor's Office should be involved in checking the complaint of Maxim Lapunov about the refusal to initiate a case on his arrest and beating up by law enforcers in Chechnya.

Against the background of a sharp conflict with Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the Ingush clergy has supported the political demands of the Ingush opposition to cancel the agreement on the border with Chechnya.

During the week from November 26 to December 2, 2018, at least three people perished in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; no information was received about the wounded people. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

There is no separate law in Russia against girls' circumcision; and such mutilations should be prohibited by the order of the Ministry of Public Health (MPH), experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The second round of presidential election in Georgia; shootout between law enforcers and suspected militants in Kabardino-Balkaria; start of campaign before the parliamentary elections in Armenia, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of November 26-December 2, 2018, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".